Edit 9 Completed

I have now completed the ninth edit of the novel. This time I’ve been looking at dialogue. I find this one of the easiest edits. There is a set of checks I need to do about every single piece of dialogue.

1.      It should not be too natural

2.      It should only say important things

3.      It should differentiate characters' voices

4.      When angry, becomes childish

5.      Should take 2/3 of popular book (Ah, but is mine going to be a popular book?)

6.      Should convey mood, character and reaction

7.      Every speech should give information

I’ve included this for the voices in the girls’ letters as well. This is a tangible and easy to execute edit. It is of course also extremely important. The dialogue really carries the story. Getting this right now makes the later “show don’t tell” edit easier.

In this edit I’ve also finally decided on “Hitlerjugend” as opposed to either “Hitler Jugend” or “Hitler Youth”. However, I am half expecting an editor later to ask me to change all of the German words. The linguist in me just wants them there.   

I also smartened up one of the extra scenes I put in after the last edit.

And so it goes on and on.